The Guarantor of European Democracy?

Interrogating the European Court of Human Rights’ Role in Democracy Consolidation in Europe

This workshop seeks to explore the role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR/Court) in democracy consolidation in a particularly acute moment for democracy in Europe. This workshop will more specifically examine the role of the ECtHR in stemming democratic backsliding among the states under its jurisdiction by examining the Court’s role in guaranteeing democracy centred around two general themes: i) the role of courts in anchoring and guaranteeing democracy in constitutional theory and the extent to which these theoretical concepts and ideas are reflected in the practices of the ECtHR; and ii) The legitimating strategies adopted by the Court in safeguarding this most sensitive area of national competence when faced with backsliding democracies.

Speakers at the workshop are:

  • Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Edinburgh)
  • Basak Cali (Berlin/Oxford)
  • Janneke Gerards (Utrecht)
  • Esra Demir-Gürsel (Berlin)
  • Michaela Heilbronner (Freiburg)
  • Aileen Kavanagh (Dublin)
  • Mikael Rask Madsen (Copenhagen)
  • Rory O’Connell (Ulster)
  • Alain Zysset (Glasgow)

The workshop is the first step in a larger joint research programme between Edinburgh law School and iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, and is sponsored by the Edinburgh-Copenhagen Collaboration Programme.

The workshop is organised by the two PIs of the project: Professor Cormac Mac Amhlaigh (Edinburgh) and Professor Mikael Rask Madsen (Copenhagen).

Programme

Thursday 21 March 2024

9:00-9:30: Arrival & Coffee

9:30-10:00. Introduction

  • Mac Amhlaigh
  • Madsen

10:00: 11:30. Democratic Theory and the ECtHR

  • Zysset, ‘How to build, and not to build, the ‘democratic process theory’ of the European Court of Human Rights’
  • Mac Amhlaigh, ‘The European Court of Human Rights as the Guarantor of Republican Freedom’

11:30-13:00. Lunch

13:00-14:30. Subsidiarity and the Structural Role of the ECtHR

  • Madsen, ‘The European Court of Human Rights and Democracy:

The Interplay of Subsidiarity and Authority

  • Kavanagh, ‘Collaborative Constitutionalism and the Strasbourg Court’

14.30-15:00. Coffee break

15:00-16:30. The ECtHR as an imperfect Elysian Court

  • Hailbronner, ‘Representation Reinforcement in the ECtHR: The Minorities Question’
  • Gerards, ‘The European Court of Human Rights as a Proponent of Ely’s Theory of Procedural Review?’

Friday 22 March 2024

10:00-12:15. The ECtHR and Democratic Backsliding

  • O’Connell, ‘The ECtHR in an age of populism and democratic backsliding: what role for non-discrimination and positive obligations?’
  • Demir-Gürsel, ‘Democracy and Authoritarianism in the ECtHR’s Case Law Concerning the Dissolution of Political Parties’
  • Cali, ‘Doctrinal Toleration Towards Anti-Democratic Practices: A Complacent Path-Dependency or Inevitability?

12:15-12:30. Concluding Remarks

12:30-13:45. Lunch

To participate, please use this registration form.